BRANTHWAITE SOLD
JARRAD BEVAN
AN elegant, historic South Hobart home has been sold to a “heritage purist” for a multimillion dollar sum.
No.65 Fitzroy Crescent, known as Branthwaite, was built in the 1830s and is a lovely example of Regency and Georgian architecture.
Throughout the home there is so much to discover, from the high ceilings to wide floorboards, architraves and skirting boards, panelled doors, thick walls, marble and cedar fire surrounds, a cast iron veranda, sandstone, dormer attic windows, quoining and tall chi mney stacks.
Circa Heritage & Lifestyle’s heritage property specialist, Dominic Romeo, said while there had been strong local and interstate inquiry, the property had been purchased by a South Australian buyer.
“The vendors were very pleased with the price I sold the property for, the short period of time to achieve the sale and the fact that it was sold to a heritage purist and enthusiast,” he said.
“The selling price achieved was $2.2 million.”
Mr Romeo said the purchaser had been searching for an important historic house in Hobart with an established garden.
“The purchaser was taken by Branthwaite’s interior spaces, ceiling heights and the fact that the rooms were light filled,” he said.
“The Fitzroy Park across the road was also an appealing feature, as was the closeness to Hobart’s CBD and Sandy Bay.
“At first inspection, the buyer was impressed and contacted his partner in South Australia to show her the house via
Zoom. The negotiations were conducted in the Drawing Room after the inspection with his partner.”
Mr Romeo described Branthwaite as an important property to the city of Hobart.
“It was originally built in 1835 and extended in the 1840s when former convict and leading architect and builder James A. Thomson was employed to add the two stone wings to the original
Regency and Georgian home,” he said.
“A minor addition was further made during the Arts and Craft period.
“The house is largely original and was owned by Tasmanian identity, Gamaliel Butler, who also built Shene in Pontville.
“He owned numerous houses in Hobart including Stowell in Battery Point and large tracts of land throughout Tasmania.”